Darren Bousman: In The Director's Chair

July 17, 2008

As a life-long horror movie fan, I was really looking forward to interviewing Darren Bousman, the director behind the last three "Saw" movies, November's "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and "New Year's Day," tonight's installment of NBC's "Fear, Itself."
I braced myself for what I thought might be a deadly serious conversation, but I couldn't have been more surprised by how funny he was and how simpatico we were - after all, we spent 20 minutes just talking about "So You Think You Can Dance."

Pop Wrap: Were you nervous to create a horror movie for NBC?
Darren Lynn Bousman: Of course I was! This is network TV - there was standards and practices on top of having to get network approval. Now that's scary.

PW: In addition to tackling network horror, you also chose the zombie genre, which has been covered every which way imaginable. What's your take on them?
Darren: It's kinda hard not to repeat yourself when doing a genre movie, specifically a zombie movie because George Romero has done it all. I didn't want to rehash the same old thing, so the first thing we did away with were the classic skin-rotting zombies. We had the idea, what if all these people just died. So we set up a nuclear power plant explosion that kills a bunch of people. So there's no decomposing, which adds a cool level because you don't know who's alive and who's a zombie right away.

PW: Briana Evigan stars in your episode, had you seen "Step It Up 2?" Darren: I love it! It's one of my favorite movies. I saw the trailer with my girlfriend and it said the movie came out on Valentine's Day, and I turned to her, "That's our night right there." And that's exactly what we did. I'm a huge musical theater/dance fan - I watch "So You Think You Can Dance" religiously.
PW: Really, I wasn't expecting that from this master of horror.
Darren: I love watching people that are talented in something that not everyone can do. When you watch "Dance," you're watching people do things with their bodies that the population at large can not do. It's amazing.

PW: So who are your favorites?
Darren: Obviously I think Will's going to win - but I love Twitch. My favorite two - who I guarantee aren't going to win - are the little couple, Courtney & Gev. They're so cute. But you don't understand, it's one of my favorite shows, I refuse to leave the house on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Keep reading to find out why Darren cast Paris Hilton in "Repo! The Genetic Opera," what his plans are for the "Leprechaun" franchise and whether he's really remaking David Cronenberg's "Scanners!"

PW: What made you decide to direct an episode of this show in the middle of all your feature film work? Darren: I needed to get a break from "Repo!" It's something I've lived with for about nine years and it all culminated in the last year and a half where everything was going wrong.
PW: Meaning?
Darren: Meaning, the editing was taking too long, the music was taking too long, the special effects were taking too long and I was starting to lose my mind. I needed another creative outlet and the great thing about "Fear, Itself" is that I was going back to a familiar genre.

PW: The fan-ticipation for "Repo!" is huge, are you excited to get it out there?
Darren: I am. It's a hard, hard, hard movie though that's got a long read ahead of it because it's so different. It might have been easier if I was Baz Luhrmann or something. But it's like here's the "Saw" director known for full-out horror doing a film with Paris Hilton singing opera. I think it's hard for people to wrap their heads around, but I think there's a fanbase for this movie.

PW: Was casting a quirky project like this difficult?
Darren: The cast was critical because the movie is so weird. I wanted the cast as unique as the movie. They were pitching me Jon Bon Jovi and Avril Lavigne, but I didn't want to dumb it down just to make it commercial. There's no one better for the roles than the people I cast.

PW: I am a huge Anthony Head fan from "Buffy" but Paris Hilton? Didn't we already try this with "House of Wax?"
Darren: Going from "Saw," I had this horror credibility that I worried would go away the minute I met with Paris. It wasn't even that I knew her, it's just that her name carries baggage. But I met with her and what blew me away is that she is the most articulate, well-spoken person in the world. And I said, "Paris, this is not the dumb blonde I see on TV." And she just looked at me and said, "If playing a dumb blonde will get me into meetings with people like you, then I embrace that role."

PW: OK, so how did you go from meeting her to casting her?
Darren: Well, just learning she's a great talker didn't sell me on her. I told Paris she was going to have to earn the role and after her time in the clink she came back and she earned it. I met with 25-30 well-known actresses that has way more credibility than her, but they did not hold a candle to what she brings to the part.

PW: She does look rather different in the movie too, almost unrecognizable.
Darren: Most directors would use her name, her look, her image to sell their movie, but I didn't want Paris Hilton to be in my movie. I didn't want the blonde hair, or the blue eyes so we gave her a fake nose and chin and she embraced it. We made her look hideous and the majority of the people who've seen the role single her out as one of the standout performances.

PW: Since becoming a go-to-director for horror movies with "Saw 2," your name has been attached to a lot of projects, like a remake of "Scanners." Is that still on the cards? Darren: No. Lemme dispel that right now - it's not true. "Scanners" was brought to me and I'm a huge Cronenberg fan, which is exactly what killed the project for me. There's something kinda sacreligious about attacking that.

PW: So are you for or against classic horror remakes?
Darren: Only if I think I can do something better with the property and I couldn't do that with "Scanners." But I am still working with Dimension and am going to do a remake.

PW: Your rumored Old West-set "Leprechaun" movie perhaps?
Darren: That's a movie I want to make! I've done so much stuff, so quickly that I would love to do a movie just for me and in my mind that would be the funnest movie. I loved "Leprechaun" growing up and then it got stupid but I think I can make it great again. I've begged Lionsgate to do it but they've never responded - maybe in 10 years they'll let me have the franchise.

PW: What do you think about "The Last House on the Left" remake since you and I both think it's one of the greatest horror movies ever made?
Darren: That was one again that way back they came to me with a script for it and it's just such an important movie to me as a filmmaker that I couldn't do it. I don't know how it's possible to improve upon that one.

PW: So, despite all the standards and practices struggles, would you like to do another installment of "Fear, Itself?"
Darren: Yes, comepletely. I've already talked to them about an idea I really want to do next year. It's cool because these are so different for me. The "Saw" movies take like a full year and "Repo!" has taken eight years and "Fear, Itself" is just such a great environment that I would come back in a second. I am very happy with what we came out with.

"New Year's Day," Darren's episode of "Fear, Itself" starring Briana Evigan, airs tonight on NBC at 10 pm.